Dispensaries were created in cities to look after poor sick people from about 1770 until the beginning of the NHS in 1948. They were created by relatively wealthy citizens who became subscribers to these institutions. They saw this as an act of philanthropy, and each subscriber was given a book of tickets that could be given to sick people to enable them to access the dispensary. Many doctors gave their services to the dispensaries freely, but an apothecary or, later on, a medical officer was employed in addition to run the dispensary and to visit the sick in their homes if they were unable...
Dispensaries were created in cities to look after poor sick people from about 1770 until the beginning of the NHS in 1948. They were created by relati...
